Door opener



Oct. 27, 1 942. HUMMEL 2,299,986

DOOR OPENER Filed March 20, 1941 3 Sheets$heet l Oct. 27, 1942. HUMMEL 2,299,986

' DOOR OPENER Filed Ilarch 20, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Inventor 47/442 mwe/ Patented Oct. 27, 1942 UNITED stares PATENT orrics DOOR OPENER Arthur F. Hummel, Sligo, Pa. Application March 20, 1941, Serial No. 384,399

2 Claims. (01. 268-35) This invention relates to a door opener, the invention being mainly designed for garage doors, the general object of the invention being to provide means for opening the doors when a car approaches a garage and means for closing the doors after the car enters the garage and such doors being again opened when the car starts to leave the garage and the doors closing after the car has left the garage.

This invention also consists in certain other features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the invention.

Figure 2 is a side view with parts in section.

Figure 3 is a top plan view with the garage in horizontal section.

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic view of the operating means for the door.

Figure '2 is a section on the line T-l of Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a section on the line 88 of Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a detail view showing the clutch arrangement for moving the arms from a shaft which controls door opening means. s

Figure 10 is a detail view showing the shaft and the arms forthe device within the garage and operated by the front wheels of a vehicle.

Figure 11 is a View of the levers forming part of the door operating means.

In these drawings the letter A indicates a building which is shown as a garage and. the letters D indicate the doors thereof, these doors being normally held closed by the springs B which can have their tension adjusted by placing their front ends in any suitable ones of a plurality of holes I formed in the brackets 2 connected to the inner faces of the doors. A shaft 3 is suitably supported within the garage and an arm 4 is carried by the shaft and a link 5 connects this arm with one of the other doors and this link is adjustably connected with the door by having one end engaging in one of the holes I of the bracket 2 of said door. A second arm 6 is carried by the shaft 3 and a link 1 connects this arm 6 with the bracket 2 of the door so that this link can be adjustably connected with the said other door. Projections 8 are connected with the inner ends of the arms 4 and 6, see Figure 11, so that movement of the arm 4 will be communicated to the arm 6 in an opening movement of the arm 4 so that both doors will be opened when the arm t is moved in an anti-clockwise direction in Figure 11. However, arm 6 can be moved without moving the arm 4 when the other door is open, thus permitting the other door to be opened without opening the door to which the arm t is connected. A vertically arranged shaft Q is supported for rotary movement in the garage and has an arm is at its upper end which is connected by a link H with said bracket 2 to which the arm is connected so that when the shaft 9 is rotated in a certain direction it will open the door to which the arm 4 is connectedand movement of this door will move the arm 4 and cause movement of the arm 6 so that the other door will be open and thus both doors will be open simultaneously though as before stated the second door can be opened by hand whenever desired.

The shaft 9 extends into a housing I?! preferably located below the flo r of the garage and said shaft has attached thereto the clutch part l3 and the clutch part It. An arm i5 is rotatably arranged on the shaft 9 within the housing and has a clutch part It? thereon for cooperating with the clutch part 53 when the arm 15 is moved in one direction. This arm 15 is connected by the flexible means or rods H, which include the springmeans 8, with an arm I9 having a clutch part 29 rotatably arranged on a shaft 2! supported for rotary movement in a housing 22 embedded in the roadway leading to the garage. An inverted U-shaped member 23 Las the lower ends of its limbs connected with the shaft El and said limbs pass through slots 24 formed in the cover 25 of the housing 22 with the bight located a distance above the housing and adapted to be struck by the wheels of a vehicle approaching or leaving thegarage. A clutch part 26 is fastened to the shaft 2| and cooperates with the clutch part 2i! of arm l9 to move the arm i9 when the member 23 is rocked toward the garage by a car moving toward the garage. A spring 23? connects a part of the shaft 21 with the bottom of the mousing 22 and acts to hold the parts with the member 23 in active position. The member is held in lowered position after being lowered by a car striking the same with the car approaching the garage, by a latch member 2'? engaging a pin 23 on one of the limbs of the member 23. The cover member is formed with the grooves 25' for receiving the'bight 0f the member 23 when the member 23 is in lowered position.

A second housing 3t is embedded in the floor of the garage or other floor and has a shaft 3! journaled therein to which is connected the lower end of an inverted U-shaped member 32 which passes through slots in the cover member or the garag floor so that its bight can be engaged by the front wheels of a vehicle after the vehicle has entered the garage. An arm 33 depends from the shaft and is rotatably mounted thereon and has a clutch projection 34 thereon for engaging a clutch collar 35 fastened to the shaft 3!. Rods or the like 36 connected together by a spring 3'! connect the arm 33 with an arm 38 the hub of I which has a segmental part it] and said hub is pivoted to a shaft 4! in the housing It, see Figure 5, and the toothed part 40 is adapted to mesh with a toothed portion of adisk 42 on shaft 9 and having a clutch part for engaging the clutch part of collar I4. Thus when the collar 42 is rotated by movement of the arm 33 the shaft 9 will be moved to open the door.

A wire 45 or the lik extends from a part on shaft 2! in housing 22 to the latch member M in housing 38, this latch member as acting to hold the member 32 in depressed position and a wire 4'! or the like extends from a part of the shaft 3| in housing 322 to the latch member 27 in the housing 22.

Thus it Will be seen that a car approaching the garage will strike the member 23 and push the same over in the direction toward the garage and said member will be held in lowered position by the latch 21. This movement of the member 23 will cause the connection I! to pull upon the arm E5, the clutch part to of which will impart a rotary movement to the collar l3 so that th shaft 9 is partly rotated and in turn causes the arm I (3 to operate the door opening means so as to open the doors. The fact that the member 23 is held in lowered position by the latch 21 Will hold the doors in open position. The car then passes into the garage through the open doors until its front wheels run over the member 32 of the housing 39. This action will not exert a pull upon the connection 36 to operate the arm 38 due to the clutch parts 34 and 35 but this movement of the member 32 will cause a pull upon the connection ll which releases the latch 2'. so that the member 23 in housing 22 can rise and thus the parts are released so that the springs B can close the doors. The front wheel passes entirely over the member 32 so that said member 32 can rise in rear of the front wheel and then when the car is backed to remove it from the garage it will strike the member 32 and move the sam toward the doors of the garage and thi will cause rotary movement of the clutch parts 3| and 35 which results in a movement of the arm 33 to exert a pull upon the connection 36 which, in turn, cause the arm 38 through the connections 48, 42 and M to rotate the shaft 9 to open the doors and the member 32 is held in lowered position by the latch member 46 which is similar to the latch member 21. Thus the door remain open so that the car can be backed from the garage. As the car passes over the member 23 said member is moved in a clockwise direction so that the clutch part 28 and 26 will not move the arm l9 but this movement of the member 23 will, through the wire 45, exert a pull upon the latch means 46 so as to release the sam to permit the member 82 to rise and the door springs to close the doors.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided simple means whereby the doors are automatically pin 59.

then the doors are closed when the car enters the garage, with means for opening th doors when the vehicle starts to leave the garage and then closes th doors after the vehicl has left the garage.

A stop pin 58 is provided for each of the latch members 21 and st in the casings 22 and 38, this pin holding the lat-ch member in position to receive the keeper pin 28 of either of the members 23 or 32. A coil spring 5i is arrange-d on the operating member 4'! or of the latch member and tends to hold the latch member against the This spring prevents the latch member from moving too far in the direction of the pull of the-member or 4?.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages and novel features of the invention will be readily apparent.

opened upon a car approaching the same and 7 It is to be understood that changes may be made in the construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts provided that such change fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described the claimed as new is:

1. In combination With a garage and its doors, spring means for closing the doors, means for opening one door by opening movement of the second door, a shaft in the building, means for opening the second door by movement in one direction of said shaft, a rockable member in front of the building, a shaft to which the rockable member is fastened, arm depending from the shaft, clutch means for moving the arm when the rockable member is moved toward the building and leaving the arm free when the rockable member is moved away from the building, an arm on the door opening shaft, means for connecting the two arms together, clutch means for causing movement of the door opening shaft by the arm on the shaft, latch means for holding the rockable member in lowered position when the same is moved toward the building, a rockable member in the building, a shaft to which the rockable member is connected, an arm depending from the last-mentioned shaft, clutch means for connecting the arm with the lastmentioned shaft and for moving the arm when the rockable member is moved away from the doors, an arm pivoted in the building, a conneotion between said arm and the last-mentioned arm, means for moving the door operating shaft when the pivoted arm is moved, latch means for holding the second rockable member in lowered position, means for releasing the latch means when the first rockable member is moved away from the doors.

2. In combination with a building and its door, means for normally holding the door in closed position, a shaft in the building, means for opening the door by movement in one direction of said shaft, a rockable member in front of the building, a shaft to which the rockable member is fastened, an arm depending from the lastmentioned shaft, clutch means for moving the arm when the rockable member is moved toward the building and leaving the arm free when the rockable member is moved away from the building, an arm on the door opening shaft, means for connecting the two arms together, clutch means for causing movement of the door opening shaft by the arm on said shaft, latch means for holding the rockable member in lowered position when the same is moved toward the building, a rockable member in the building, a shaft invention, what is to which the rockable member is connected, an arm depending from the last-mentioned shaft, clutchmeans for connecting the last-mentioned arm with the last-mentioned shaft and for moving the arm when the rockable member is moved away from the door, an arm pivoted in the building, a connection between said arm and the last- 

